Lord, let me never tag a moral to a story, nor tell a story without a
meaning.--Van Dyke.

More failures come from vanity than carelessness.--Joseph Jefferson.

Never do a pot-boiler. Let one of your best things go to boil the
pot.--O. Henry.

Originality does not mean oddity, but freshness. It means vitality, not
novelty.--Norman Hapgood.

Pluck feathers from the wings of your imagination, and stick them in the
tail of your judgment.--Horace Greeley.

Quintessence approximates genius. Gather much though into few words.
--Schopenhauer.

Revise. Revise. Revise.--E. E. Hale.

Simplicity has been held a mark of truth: it is also it mark of
genius.--Carlyle.

The first principle of composition of whatever sort is that it should be
natural and appear to have happened so.--Frederick Macmonnies.

Utilize your enthusiasms. Get the habit of happiness in
work.--Beveridge.

Very few voices but sound repellent under violent exertion.--Lessing.

Whatever in this world one has to say, there is a word, and just one
word, to express it. Seek that out and use it.--De Maupassant.

Yes, yes; believe me, you must draw your pen
Not once, nor twice, but o'er and o'er again
Through what you've written, if you would entice
The man who reads you once to read you twice.
-Horace (Conington, Tr.)

Zeal with scanty capacity often accomplishes more than capacity with no
zeal at all.--George Eliot.